SPRINGFIELD -- To the relief and dismay of a flame-scarred city, Anthony P. Baye pleaded guilty on Monday to setting 27 separate fires within a narrow radius of hisNorthampton home over a period of nearly three years.

Baye's stunning plea brought an abrupt end to his trial on murder and arson charges, a case that Northwestern district attorney David E. Sullivan called the most significant to come out of Hampshire County in five decades.

Among the 48 charges to which Baye pleaded guilty were two manslaughter counts in connection with the deaths of Paul Yeskie and Paul Yeskie, Jr., a father and son who were killed as a result of a fire that Baye started on the porch of their 17 Fair St. home.

There were also numerous counts of attempted arson, armed burglary and misleading police.

Baye’s admission is bound to bring some resolution to the Ward 3 neighborhood, which was the center of a rash of suspicious fires beginning in 2007. Those fears came to a blazing climax in the early hours of Dec. 27, 2009, when Baye used a cigarette lighter to set 15 fires at houses and in cars within a few hours on a rainy night.

Yeskie, 81, and his son, 39, died in one of those fires as they frantically tried to escape through a bathroom window of their home located on a street off Route 9 near the Three County Fairgrounds.

“The city of Northampton can sleep well tonight,” Sullivan said after Baye's guilty pleas before Judge Constance M. Sweeney. Baye's trial was about to enter its second week, transferred to courtroom in neighboring Hampden County as a move to find an impartial jury.

Baye, 28, lived with his parents at 85 Hawley St., smack in the middle of the ring of fires. In December of 2007 -- two years before the Dec. 27, 2009, spree and long before Baye was identified as a suspect -- some 50 residents met with public safety officials to express their concerns in the offices of the Hampshire Educational Collaborative, right next door to Baye’s house.

Testimony in the trial began last Friday with a succession of witnesses, including the widow and mother of the two dead men, who described their terror on Dec. 27 as they found their homes on fire. Some evacuated their houses to find similar groups watching other fires. One man compared the scene to a bombing.

In addition to the Dec. 27 fires, Baye pleaded guilty to setting fires in 2007 and early 2009. Those charges had been severed from the trial by Sweeney.

The plea bargain was apparently worked out over the weekend, although lawyers would say little about it in court on Monday.

Baye will be sentenced on Wednesday in Hampshire Superior Court in Northampton. According to the terms of the agreement, he will serve a 19- to 20-year prison sentence for the deaths of the Yeskies. As part of the bargain, those manslaughter charges were reduced from first-degree murder, which carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison.

Sullivan said Baye’s pleas account for virtually every suspicious fire in the neighborhood from 2007 to the time he was arrested in January 2010.

“Justice was achieved in this case,” the district attorney said.

Prosecutor Brett J. Vottero, special prosecutor for the case, referred all comment to the district attorney. Vottero and co-prosecutors Matthew Thomas and Thomas Townsend left the courtroom immediately after Sweeney explained the situation to the jurors and dismissed them.

An email from Sullivan’s office earlier on Monday indicated “significant developments” had transpired in the case. Many police officers, arson investigators and fire victims were present in the courtroom, along with Baye’s parents. While the prosecutors conferred with Sullivan, Baye and his attorneys, David P. Hoose and Thomas Lesser, sat staring straight ahead.

Sweeney took the bench shortly after 9 a.m. and announced that the two sides had reached an agreement. Baye then took the stand as the judge explained the charges against him, the potential penalties and the rights he would be giving up by pleading guilty.

The defendant listened without visible emotion as Vottero recited the facts of the case. After each charge, Sweeney asked Baye if he was guilty. He said he was.

The two manslaughter sentences are to run concurrently. Once he completes his prison term, Baye will be required to serve 15 years probation. During that time he must undergo counseling, refrain from using illegal drugs and have his movements tracked through electronic monitoring. If he commits a crime during his probation period, Baye may be sentenced to the maximum penalty for the crimes to which he has pleaded guilty.

Sweeney has the option of rejecting the agreement and pronouncing a harsher sentence on Baye. In that case, he could withdraw his guilty pleas and take his case to trial. The judge indicated, however, that it is not her practice to second-guess a plea agreement.

Although Sullivan credited the agreement to the strength of the prosecution's case, there was no forensic evidence or eyewitness testimony linking Baye to any of the fires.

Sullivan would not say Monday if any new evidence came to light. He indicated that Baye might have something to say through his lawyers after the sentencing on Wednesday. Sullivan’s office will also hold a press conference then.

The case was originally scheduled to be tried in Northampton, with jurors to be selected from Hampden County because of extensive pre-trial publicity. Sweeney determined, however, the trial should be conducted in Springfield.

Elaine Yeskie, whose husband and son died in the Fair Street blaze, is expected to make a statement to the court at Baye’s sentencing, along with other fire victims.

The interactive timeline below chronicles the case from the first fire Baye is charged with setting, in 2007, through today's plea. To advance the slide, mouse over the right side of the frame and click the arrow button. To open a larger version of the timeline in a new browser tab, click here »